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Should I quarantine my plant if…


Karen B.
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Greetings!

I am starting completely over with my 10 gallons. So far, the aquarium is clean and I boiled the substrate.

Now it’s time to decorate, add plants, wood, rocks and then wait for my cycle.

Some people advise to quarantine plants up to 3 weeks to kill any parasites or disease. If I don’t add my fish in my 10 gallons for at least 3 weeks, would that work as quarantine? Or it’s better to do it in a separate place/bucket altogether?

The source my plants come from have snails and fish with the plants.

Thank you!

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I dont think its necessary to quarintine plants unless your collecting them from a nearby stream/ public waterbody. I personally don't and have never experianced anything negative from doing so.

I beleive its a very small chance parasites, or other diseases will come in with your plant. Quarantining your fish is a different story, as there is a good chance there will be parasites or other diseases depending on the source of your fish.

However if your nervous of some invassive snails coming in through your tanks I would suggest doing a plant dip. Heres a video from @Irene about performing a plant dip:

I personally like snails so I dont perform dips, but thats just me.

If your still wanting to quarintine the plants I would plant the plants in your aquarium, let the aquarium cycle for a few weeks then add the fish.

I should also add that when adding your first batch of fish into an aquarium you can let them quarintine in there for 4 weeks to await any parasites before adding in new fish. When adding in new fish to a tank that already has fish, I would suggest that you keep the new fish in an empty tank for 2-4 weeks by them selves or with other fish you bought them with. Some people like to speed up the process and use the aquarium co-op med trio, which only takes a week. However I do the 2-4 weeks by themselves.

Edited by James Black
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On 9/3/2021 at 10:52 PM, James Black said:

I dont think its necessary to quarintine plants unless your collecting them from a nearby stream/ public waterbody. I personally don't and have never experianced anything negative from doing so.

I beleive its a very small chance parasites, or other diseases will come in with your plant. Quarantining your fish is a different story, as there is a good chance there will be parasites or other diseases depending on the source of your fish.

However if your nervous of some invassive snails coming in through your tanks I would suggest doing a plant dip. Heres a video from @Irene about performing a plant dip:

I personally like snails so I dont perform dips, but thats just me.

If your still wanting to quarintine the plants I would plant the plants in your aquarium, let the aquarium cycle for a few weeks then add the fish.

I should also add that when adding your first batch of fish into an aquarium you can let them quarintine in there for 4 weeks to await any parasites before adding in new fish. When adding in new fish to a tank that already has fish, I would suggest that you keep the new fish in an empty tank for 2-4 weeks by them selves or with other fish you bought them with. Some people like to speed up the process and use the aquarium co-op med trio, which only takes a week. However I do the 2-4 weeks by themselves.

Thank you! The dipping solution scares me. Strong corrosive product, I always fear I didn’t rince enough. 
There will only be one fish - a betta.

 

On 9/3/2021 at 10:55 PM, Nooby said:

@Karen B.do a quarantine in a separate bucket , this is to remove ick or other parasites better safe than sorry

How long do ick survive without a living host? Or can it stay in my sponge/filters/wood, etc?

 

On 9/3/2021 at 10:55 PM, Streetwise said:

Snails are beneficial, especially those that come with plants. Embrace all the algae, bacteria, and biofilm that come with an aquatic ecosystem.

If you knew how much pest snails disgust me! If I have too many, it even bothers me to the points of no longer enjoying my aquarium.

But if I understand your answer, it’s no quarantine?

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I think if you add the plants now and wait for the tank to be cycled you'll be fine, and parasite or bacteria would need a fish to live and since you're not going to have any fish in there, if you have any they would die.

Good luck with your new design.

 

Here's a link from a veterinarian.

https://youtu.be/G2SMZe3dKF8

Edited by Ron Uni
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On 9/3/2021 at 11:11 PM, Ron Uni said:

I think if you add the plants now and wait for the tank to be cycled you'll be fine, and parasite or bacteria would need a fish to live and since you're not going to have any fish in there, if you have any they would die.

Good luck with your new design.

 

Here's a link from a veterinarian.

https://youtu.be/G2SMZe3dKF8

Thank you so much! The link was very helpful and confirm that I can plant in my fishless aquarium. Yay! Thanks 😊

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On 9/3/2021 at 11:21 PM, Nooby said:

@Karen B. ick sticks to anything it takes about 3 weeks to die so I would quarantine for 4 weeks to be safe, what plant are you thinking plant are you thinking of getting?

Anubia, bacopa, rotala, crypto, Limnophila sessiflora, pogostemon… and some other plants that had no names 😅

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On 9/3/2021 at 11:09 PM, Karen B. said:

How long do ick survive without a living host? Or can it stay in my sponge/filters/wood, etc?

My understanding from reading up on this awhile back is ich can survive via it having several lifecycle stages for up to 70 days. How true this is I’m not certain. I stick mine in a bucket for 2 weeks so they can adjust to my water and any dropped leaves I don’t have to fish out. I don’t dose my tank with any type of fertilizer except equilibrium occasionally so I use this opportunity to heavy dose easy green (super plant miracle if you have not tried it) and get them flourishing before putting into my tank. Knock on wood I have never experienced disease in a main tanks only quarantine incoming fish over all the years I have been fish keeping.  Disease is more rare than you think. You hear so much of it from the folks who are unfortunate enough to have gotten hit but that is a small percentage of the millions that do not post hey I have healthy fish. Snails are very beneficial I fish them out of plant buckets and add to my tank. Look up close they are cute as heck too 😁

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